Tony Becca, Contributing Editor

THE OLYMPIC Games are now in full swing, and while I do not know what is the reason, I have never before witnessed the sort of interest that is being displayed in the Games by Jamaicans of all ages and from all walks of life.

It is so amazing that, if when the Games are over, Jamaicans retain 10 or 20 per cent of the interest now being demonstrated in the Games and in the success of Jamaicans at the Games, sport in this country will be guaranteed success after success, and at the highest level at that.

The interest in track and field has certainly dwarfed that in cricket - the sport that was once the king of sports in this country.

Selection process

And as far as I am concerned, that is not surprising. Track and field has come a long way.

Apart from some dedicated and knowledgeable people, some people with a passion for the sport whose only interest is to see Jamaicans run faster and jump higher and farther than others, some unselfish people with a vision for the athletes and for the country, and a great system locally, it is all because of its simple selection process.

Although it is not as easy in many other sports, as far as track and field is concerned, it is, almost every time, first or second or third past the line.

I have always maintained that that is one of the reasons, probably even the main reason, why track and field has flashed past cricket in Jamaica. Unlike track and field, where performance is what counts and where the selectors have little to do, the selectors in cricket are sometimes considered, even by those who play the game, too important and too influential.

Sometimes, irrespective of the amount of runs scored by a batsman, the selectors even discuss who will bat better against different types of bowlers and on different types of pitches.

While all of that is part of the game, it has become, in recent times, almost par for the course. It has become too much for the players, and that is one reason why so many quit the game early and why the standards have fallen.

Selectors in cricket are so important and so influential that a players' career sometimes, a lot of times, depends on who is a selector and who makes up the selection committee.

Up to a week or so ago, for example, a player like Carlton Baugh Jr of Jamaica, a wicketkeeper/batsman with a first-class batting record of 3,137 runs from 62 matches with eight centuries, including one against Australia in a practice match, was out of the West Indies limited-overs team.

However, someone like Patrick Browne of Barbados, with a first-class batting record of 47 matches, 1,672 runs with a top score of 83 at an average of 21.83, with a record of 27 runs in two matches for the West Indies at an average of 13.50, was in action.

Up to a week or so ago, Brendan Nash of Jamaica, again for example, was ignored, although he bowled quite well and fielded brilliantly in the regional limited-over tournament.

Even now, though he was dropped after one match in the Stanford 20/20, and despite scoring only 67 runs in four innings to finish in position number 33 with an average of 22.33, after scoring only 305 runs while finishing 19th in the four-day Carib Beer competition with an average of 38.12, he is in the West Indies team, not only for matches against lowly Canada and Bermuda but also for the ICC Champions Trophy.

Change of selectors

Although one like Xavier Marshall was recalled by the West Indies selectors after he was not selected for the Jamaica team in the regional limited-overs competition and after he was dropped from the side during the Carib Beer Cup, the reason for those selections, and probably the reason for the recall of left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed of Trinidad and Tobago, is because of a change in the West Indies selection panel.

A few days ago, players like Baugh and Mohammed must have been convinced that their days as a West Indies cricketer were over.

Nash must have believed that he would never even be given a chance and together they must be saying, at least for the time being, 'thank God' for Robert Haynes and Raphick Jumadeen.

Up to a few weeks ago, it was a selection committee with Gordon Greenidge of Barbados, Andy Roberts of the Leeward Islands and Clyde Butts of Guyana.

Today, it is one made up of Butts, Haynes of Jamaica and Jumadeen of Trinidad and Tobago.